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Secrets Declassified with David Duchovny S02E06 Cracking the Code H 264
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00:06Tonight on Secrets Declassified,
00:09cracking secret codes that win battles and save lives.
00:13From the Pacific, where a U.S. codebreaker races
00:15to prevent another Pearl Harbor.
00:18This code is just about impossible to break.
00:21To Vietnam, where a U.S. airman's escape route
00:24is potted with clues from an unusual source.
00:27They're going to use the layout of his favorite golf courses as a code.
00:32And to a housewife in Virginia that reveals her husband
00:36is selling top-secret codes to the enemy.
00:39Tucked away in a closet is a grocery bag
00:42stuffed with classified Navy documents.
00:45These are the astonishing and sometimes terrible things
00:48done by governments and the people who work for them.
00:51It's time to bring them to light.
01:00The first hole at Tucson National Golf Course
01:04is 430 yards and bends to the left.
01:07The fourth at Abilene Country Club is 195 yards.
01:11They might sound like trivial facts,
01:14but for one U.S. airman shot down behind enemy lines in Vietnam,
01:18they're the difference between life and death.
01:23On Good Friday, 1972,
01:26the North Vietnamese launched a massive surprise assault
01:29into South Vietnam.
01:31The U.S. air force scrambles to launch
01:33a series of tactical airstrikes
01:35to try and contain this invasion.
01:37And many airmen who've been looking forward to some leave
01:40suddenly find themselves back on active duty.
01:43One of the unlucky men recalled from R&R
01:46is 53-year-old Gene Hambleton.
01:49Gene Hambleton is a navigator
01:51and an electronics specialist in the U.S. air force.
01:55He seems old to still be flying combat missions,
01:58but it's his expertise in jamming enemy radar
02:01that puts him back into the cockpit
02:03heading to North Vietnam.
02:05Just minutes into his mission,
02:07his airplane is struck
02:09and he finds himself having to parachute
02:11into enemy territory.
02:13For the U.S. military,
02:15Hambleton isn't just another man down.
02:17Because of his seniority,
02:19Hambleton has an intimate knowledge
02:21of top-secret strategic air command operations.
02:25He cannot be allowed to fall into enemy hands.
02:29The race is on to find Hambleton
02:32before the enemy does.
02:34The Air Force manages to make radio contact with Hambleton,
02:37and they launch one air evac after another.
02:41But the rescue choppers keep getting shot down.
02:45Then the Navy SEALs propose a different kind of rescue.
02:50Their plan is to covertly sail up the Muzang River
02:53and pluck Hambleton from an extraction point
02:56two miles away from his current location.
02:59There's one big problem.
03:00The survival radio that Hambleton has
03:03allows him to communicate with American forces,
03:05but it also allows the enemy
03:07to listen in on those transmissions.
03:09They're going to need a secret code
03:12which only Hambleton can understand.
03:14That's a lot easier said than done.
03:17The rescuers reach out to Hambleton's squadron
03:20to find things out about his personal life
03:23so they can come up with a coded language
03:25that he would understand and the enemy wouldn't.
03:28They discover that Hambleton is an avid golfer,
03:32but not only that, he has freakishly encyclopedic knowledge
03:36about the world's most renowned golf courses.
03:39Maybe they can encode a route to the extraction point
03:43using the layout of his favorite golf courses as a code.
03:49It's a crazy idea,
03:51but it's the only hope the Air Force has
03:53of getting their man back.
03:55The rescue team starts overlaying golf course plans
03:59over aerial reconnaissance photos,
04:01and they start plotting a route
04:03to the extraction point across farmland
04:06that also stays away from roads and enemy positions,
04:09and they break that plan down into nine stages.
04:14Each of those stages corresponds
04:17to the individual length and bearing
04:20of a hole from an iconic golf course.
04:23Forget Whistling Straits, Augusta, or the Ocean Course.
04:27This will be the toughest round of golf
04:29anyone has ever played.
04:32On April 10th,
04:34Hamilton's radio crackles to light.
04:36The voice on the other end
04:37belongs to Air Force Captain Harold Icke.
04:41Hamilton's life depends on him being able
04:43to decode what he hears next.
04:46Icke tells him,
04:47you're going to play nine holes,
04:49and you're going to get in the Suwannee.
04:51The round starts at number one at Tucson National.
04:54Now, at first, Hamilton's totally confused,
04:57as would be any of the North Vietnamese
05:00that are listening in,
05:01but then Hamilton realizes that message is so strange,
05:04it must be a code.
05:07The Suwannee is a river in the U.S.,
05:09so he figures they must be giving him coded directions
05:12to get to a nearby river.
05:16Hamilton racks his brains,
05:18trying to remember everything he can about the course of Tucson.
05:21The first hole is 430 yards running southeast.
05:25Suddenly, he realizes that's his first direction.
05:29Hamilton can hear enemy activity all around,
05:32so he waits until the cover of nightfall before teeing off.
05:36As he starts moving, it's tough going for Hamilton.
05:40He has to count his strides, moving through darkness,
05:43navigating through potential minefields,
05:45and avoiding enemy soldiers.
05:48After 40 minutes, he makes it to the first hole.
05:52That's one hole down, eight more to go.
05:55He makes it through four holes before dawn breaks.
05:58When he takes cover again.
06:01Next evening, he moves on to hole five,
06:04and this one comes with a serious hazard.
06:06The fifth hole is the number four at Abilene Country Club,
06:10where Hamilton once hit a hole-in-one.
06:12This time, it's not so easy.
06:14The route takes him right through the outskirts
06:16of a Vietnamese village.
06:18As he's tiptoeing through this village,
06:20suddenly from around a building,
06:22a man leaps out at him, brandishing a blade.
06:25Instinct takes over,
06:26and Hamilton pulls out his own knife,
06:28plunging it into his attacker
06:29before escaping onward into the jungle.
06:32Now, his next round is against the clock,
06:36because once the body is discovered,
06:38the North Vietnamese will be hot on his trail.
06:40Over the final four holes,
06:43Hamilton grows weaker and weaker.
06:45After three days,
06:47Hamilton makes it to the ninth and final hole.
06:50He locates his extraction point and waits.
06:53It feels like his ordeal is nearly over.
06:57Then Hamilton's heart sinks.
06:59He spots a sandpan boat heading upriver towards him,
07:02with a Vietnamese man on the prowl holding an AK-47.
07:07Days of surviving in the jungle,
07:09only to get caught now.
07:11But then someone else emerges from the boat.
07:14It's an American.
07:15It's the Navy SEAL extraction team.
07:18News of Hamilton's rescue hits the headlines,
07:21but something crucial is missing.
07:24All mention of the Navy's clever code
07:27has been scrubbed from the stories.
07:29The secret remains locked away for nearly a decade,
07:33until 1980,
07:34when Hamilton finally reveals the story
07:37of his amazing escape.
07:39And the world hears of one of the U.S. military's
07:42most audacious codes.
07:46Improvising a code to rescue a man
07:48behind enemy lines is one thing.
07:50But during World War II,
07:52the U.S. military needs something
07:54that can save thousands
07:55and help turn the tide of the war.
07:58So they turn to an unlikely source,
08:01an ancient Native American language.
08:07After months of naval warfare,
08:09the U.S. military is prepping
08:11to engage the Japanese on land
08:13for the first time,
08:14and their plan is to island-hop their way
08:16across the Pacific
08:17towards the Japanese mainland.
08:19Radio communication will play
08:21a pivotal role in the campaign,
08:24but it has a downside.
08:26In the chaos of battle,
08:28there is no quick way
08:29to encrypt or decrypt battlefield commands.
08:32So Japanese forces will be able
08:34to hear everything the U.S. is saying.
08:37In 1942,
08:39an engineer raised
08:40in a remote region of Arizona
08:41has an idea which could change all that.
08:44His name is Philip Johnston.
08:48Philip Johnston was actually raised
08:50by missionaries on a Navajo reservation,
08:51and as such,
08:53he learned the Navajo language.
08:55Johnston recommends to the U.S. Army
08:57using Navajo speakers as code talkers,
09:00communicating battlefield orders in real time
09:03before the Japanese can decipher them.
09:06It's estimated that less than 30 non-Navajo
09:09speak the language in 1942,
09:11making the odds of a Japanese soldier
09:13being able to understand Navajo
09:15virtually zero.
09:16When the U.S. military
09:18hears about Johnston's idea,
09:20they take notice.
09:21He's asked to come in
09:22and put his idea to the test.
09:24In February 1942,
09:27Johnston assembles four Navajo men
09:29at Camp Elliott in San Diego.
09:31Under the scrutiny of the top brass,
09:34the Navajos sit in separate offices
09:36and are made to relay
09:38half a dozen simple messages
09:39to each other via telephone.
09:41The Navajo test subjects
09:43perform flawlessly.
09:44The messages are relayed far faster
09:46than they could have been encoded
09:47and decoded,
09:48and there's not a single mistake among them.
09:50Johnston's big idea
09:52gets the green light.
09:53Now, he needs to scale it up
09:56for battle.
09:57Hundreds of Navajo volunteer for service,
10:00and they're rapidly given
10:01basic military training.
10:03But pretty soon,
10:05a problem arises.
10:06The Navajo language
10:07is almost a thousand years old,
10:09but this language doesn't contain
10:11any words for modern warfare.
10:13To get around the missing words,
10:15Johnston proposes using everyday words
10:17that have military meanings.
10:19So, for example,
10:20whale became the word
10:21that was used for battleships.
10:24In November 1942,
10:27the first 13 Navajo code talkers
10:29are deployed to the Pacific.
10:31It's finally time
10:32to put Johnston's idea
10:33to the ultimate test
10:34in the heat of battle.
10:37Chester Ness and Roy Begay
10:40are two of the first Navajo code talkers
10:43who arrive in Guadalcanal,
10:44and they have a literal trial by fire.
10:47On the 7th of November,
10:49Chester and Roy's platoon
10:50comes under attack
10:51as they try to take an airfield.
10:52They are pinned down.
10:54A runner comes with an urgent message
10:57to call in an artillery strike.
10:58While bullets and mortar rounds
11:00whiz overhead,
11:01Chester begins transmitting the message
11:03to call in the artillery strike
11:05in his native language of Navajo.
11:08Seconds later,
11:09artillery buzz overhead,
11:12neutralizing the Japanese machine gun nest
11:14holding them down.
11:17The entire message
11:18took just 20 seconds
11:20to send and receive.
11:22If sent using standard military code,
11:24it would have taken 30 minutes,
11:26by which time
11:27Roy and Chester's company
11:29would have been annihilated.
11:31Roy and Chester's commanding general
11:33contacts his superiors,
11:35saying,
11:36this Navajo code is terrific.
11:38The enemy never understood it.
11:40We don't understand it either,
11:42but it works.
11:43Send us more Navajos.
11:45After the arrival
11:46of the Navajo code talkers,
11:48the American forces go on to win
11:50the Battle of Guadalcanal.
11:51It's a decisive point
11:53in the fighting
11:53in the Southwest Pacific.
11:55The Navajo code talkers
11:57continue to play a critical role,
11:59including in pivotal action
12:01at Iwo Jima and Bougainville.
12:04And the Japanese never managed
12:06to figure out
12:07their ancient language.
12:08After the war is over,
12:10code talkers don't get
12:11the official recognition
12:12they deserve.
12:13While part of that
12:14is due to race relations
12:15at the time,
12:16a larger part is due
12:17to the oath
12:18that the code talkers took,
12:20promising to keep
12:21their operations secret
12:22in case they were ever
12:23called upon
12:23in time of need again.
12:25Only in 1968
12:27is the service record
12:28of the code talkers
12:29declassified.
12:32Then, in 2008,
12:34President George W. Bush
12:36signs the Code Talkers'
12:37Recognition Act,
12:39and the hidden heroes
12:40of the Pacific War
12:41are finally given their due.
12:46After Pearl Harbor,
12:48a U.S. codebreaker
12:49discovers Japan
12:50is planning an even
12:51more devastating attack,
12:53only he doesn't know where.
12:55If he can't crack
12:56the Japanese cipher,
12:58then the whole U.S. Pacific
12:59fleet could be destroyed.
13:03On December 7, 1941,
13:05the Japanese launched
13:06a surprise attack
13:08on the U.S. fleet
13:09at Pearl Harbor,
13:10claiming the lives
13:11of over 2,400 Americans.
13:14Pearl Harbor ranks
13:16with 9-11
13:17as the worst
13:18intelligence failure
13:19in American history.
13:24Captain Joseph Rochefort
13:26is the head
13:27of the codebreaking unit
13:28at Pearl Harbor.
13:29Rochefort vows
13:30to make sure
13:31the U.S. will never
13:32be ambushed like this again.
13:34In the aftermath
13:35of the attack,
13:36Rochefort and his team
13:37are tasked
13:38with cracking
13:38the notorious
13:39Japanese code,
13:41JN-25.
13:42The code uses
13:43a huge codebook
13:44to translate
13:45common words
13:46and phrases
13:46into individual
13:48five-digit numbers.
13:49From there,
13:50there's an additive codebook
13:51that then scrambles
13:53those numbers
13:53yet again.
13:55This dual system
13:57makes it just about
13:58impossible to break.
14:00Rochefort and his team
14:01begin studying
14:02the mass of Japanese
14:04communications
14:05from the days
14:05leading up
14:06to Pearl Harbor.
14:08Rochefort discovers
14:08that in the rush
14:09before Pearl Harbor,
14:11the Japanese coders
14:12got careless.
14:13They began
14:14transmitting codes
14:15using an additive book
14:17that had already
14:17been partially cracked
14:18by the U.S.
14:20This allows Rochefort
14:21to spot something else.
14:23It seems that
14:24when the Japanese
14:24are discussing
14:25target locations,
14:26they use the prefix
14:28A to represent
14:29U.S. interests
14:30in the Pacific.
14:31AI seems to
14:32stand for Oahu.
14:33A-H is Hawaii.
14:35A-K, Pearl Harbor.
14:37Soon after Rochefort
14:39has discovered
14:40these two-letter codes,
14:41a fresh set
14:42of intercepts arrive
14:43mentioning a fourth
14:44two-letter code location.
14:46Japanese air commanders
14:47are inquiring
14:48about wind speed
14:49for an upcoming
14:50attack on AF.
14:54What the Americans
14:55don't want
14:56is to be caught
14:57in some kind
14:58of trap.
14:59It's so very important
15:01to know exactly
15:02where AF is.
15:04Rochefort is reading
15:06the messages
15:06over and over
15:07and then
15:08it hits him.
15:09He looks at
15:10who the message
15:11was sent to
15:12and who it wasn't
15:13sent to.
15:14And Rochefort
15:15notices that
15:15there was one
15:16military branch
15:17that didn't receive
15:18the message.
15:19Submarine commanders.
15:21If submarines
15:22are not included,
15:23this attack
15:24is likely
15:25to be an air attack,
15:26meaning AF
15:26needs to be
15:28within range
15:28of the Japanese base
15:29on the Marshall Islands
15:30where their aircraft
15:31carriers are harbored.
15:33That narrows down AF
15:34to only a few
15:35possible locations.
15:36By process of elimination,
15:38he knows the attack
15:39can't be on the Hawaiian Islands
15:41because they have
15:42a code name assigned to them.
15:43And so,
15:44narrowing it down,
15:45he knows that AF
15:46has to indicate
15:48the American bases
15:49on Midway.
15:51Rochefort believes
15:52he's cracked the code
15:53and knows where
15:54the attack will happen,
15:55but it all counts
15:56for nothing
15:56if he can't convince
15:57his commanders.
15:58The stakes
15:59couldn't be higher.
16:01It's crucial
16:02that the Americans
16:02hold on to Midway
16:03after the loss
16:04has already suffered
16:04at Pearl Harbor.
16:06To lose Midway
16:06at this point
16:07would kind of be
16:07like the one-two punch
16:09that really
16:10makes the knockout.
16:12Rochefort
16:12has this sense
16:13that AF
16:14is Midway,
16:16but he can't prove it.
16:17And there's no way
16:18that he is going
16:20to advise Admiral Nimitz,
16:22who commanded
16:23the Pacific Fleet,
16:24to send out
16:25America's remaining carriers
16:27to ambush the Japanese
16:29on that kind of hunch.
16:32So he comes up
16:33with a plan.
16:35Rochefort arranges
16:36for Midway's garrison commander
16:37to send a fake message
16:38saying that they're low
16:39on fresh water.
16:40Now,
16:40if the message
16:41is sent uncoded,
16:42the Japanese
16:43will immediately realize
16:44it's fake,
16:44so Rochefort gets
16:46the message sent
16:47using a U.S. cipher
16:48that he knows
16:49the Japanese
16:49have already cracked.
16:51Then Rochefort waits.
16:5448 hours later,
16:55he gets the response
16:57he was banking on.
16:58Rochefort's team
16:59decodes a message
17:00about the imminent attack
17:01on AF,
17:02and it specifically states
17:04AF is low on water.
17:06This is the clincher
17:07Admiral Nimitz needs.
17:08AF is Midway.
17:10This is the kind
17:12of intelligence
17:13that commanders dream of.
17:16Nimitz understood
17:17that if he got it right,
17:19the Japanese Pacific fleet
17:21would be devastated.
17:23Somebody was headed
17:24for an ambush.
17:26Would it be the Americans
17:27or the Japanese?
17:29Wasting no time,
17:31Admiral Nimitz sends
17:32three aircraft carriers
17:33with 117 aircraft
17:35to await the Japanese.
17:37On June the 4th, 1942,
17:40they catch the Japanese fleet
17:42entirely by surprise.
17:44The Battle of Midway
17:46is a resounding naval victory
17:48for the United States.
17:50The United States
17:51sends to the bottom
17:53of the Pacific
17:53four Japanese aircraft carriers,
17:58thus neutralizing
17:59the Japanese threat
18:01in the Pacific.
18:03Midway is such
18:05an incredible triumph
18:06that everyone wants
18:08a piece of the glory,
18:09and credit
18:10for cracking JN-25
18:11is ultimately claimed
18:12by the director
18:13of naval intelligence,
18:14and Rochefort's role
18:16is basically
18:17forgotten from history.
18:19Only in 1985,
18:21when a book is published
18:23by a former colleague,
18:24is Rochefort finally revealed
18:26as the unsung hero
18:27who stopped
18:28a second Pearl Harbor.
18:31The following year,
18:33he is posthumously awarded
18:35the Navy Distinguished
18:36Service Medal.
18:40When a U.S. POW in North Vietnam's
18:42Hanoi Hilton wants to reveal
18:44to the world
18:45that he's being tortured,
18:46he does it without
18:47his captors noticing.
18:49Blink, and you'll miss it.
18:56Commander Jeremiah Denton
18:58is an experienced
18:59and respected career aviator
19:01in the U.S. Navy.
19:03In 1965,
19:05he's flying a bombing mission
19:06when his airplane
19:08is struck by
19:08anti-aircraft fire.
19:10Denton manages to bail out
19:12and parachute to safety,
19:13but he's quickly captured
19:14by Vietnamese forces
19:15who take him
19:16to the infamous prison
19:17Hualo.
19:18The prison is better known
19:20among U.S. POWs
19:22by its nickname,
19:23the Hanoi Hilton.
19:25But there's nothing luxurious
19:26about the conditions
19:27Denton checks into.
19:29Hualo is a horrid situation
19:31for the aviators
19:32that are held there.
19:33The Vietnamese classify
19:35American aviators
19:36as air pirates,
19:37and they claim
19:38that they are not protected
19:39by the Geneva Convention.
19:41They're kept
19:42in a prison facility
19:43where they're often subjected
19:45to harsh interrogation
19:46and torture.
19:47They're not allowed
19:48to communicate
19:49with one another,
19:50and any attempt
19:51to speak to a fellow prisoner
19:52will probably result
19:54in a pretty nasty beating.
19:56Denton understands
19:57keeping his sanity intact
19:59relies on one thing.
20:01He must find a way
20:02to connect
20:03with his fellow inmates.
20:05Denton discovers
20:06that the POWs
20:08have already found
20:08a way to communicate
20:09without using spoken words.
20:11They pass messages
20:12by tapping
20:13on their cell walls
20:14in Morse code.
20:16Through their secret communications,
20:18Denton is able
20:19to incite a campaign
20:20of resistance,
20:21but the guards
20:22identify Denton
20:23as the ringleader.
20:24He is beaten
20:25and brutally tortured.
20:27In October 1967,
20:30Denton is moved
20:31to another prison unit
20:32reserved for the inmates
20:33deemed to be troublemakers.
20:35This one has
20:36the less ironic nickname,
20:38Alcatraz.
20:39Here,
20:40the tap code
20:41won't work.
20:42Alcatraz is a much
20:43harsher system,
20:44and the guards
20:45will inflict punishment
20:47on any individual
20:48who appears
20:48to be communicating
20:50via Morse code
20:51or any other form
20:52of encryption system.
20:55Denton is desperate
20:56to communicate
20:57with any of the other POWs there,
20:59but he's terrified
21:00of any more torture.
21:01So Denton starts devising
21:03an entirely new code
21:04based on the sounds
21:05he hears all around him
21:07and that the guards
21:08would never think twice about.
21:09Coughs and sniffs.
21:11Due to the terrible conditions,
21:13practically all the inmates
21:14have some sort
21:14of respiratory problem.
21:16So coughs and sniffs
21:17will easily fall
21:19under the cover
21:20of the current
21:21environmental conditions.
21:23With this new code,
21:25a single cough
21:26means one,
21:28a cough or a sniff
21:29twice means two,
21:31and so forth and so on.
21:34Using a standard
21:35five-by-five grid
21:36where each letter
21:38is designated
21:39two numbers
21:39between one and five,
21:41the airmen are able
21:42to spell out
21:43full messages
21:44to each other
21:45without anyone
21:46ever detecting it.
21:48Denton wants
21:49to speak to more
21:50than his fellow prisoners.
21:52What he dreams of
21:53is to be able
21:55to tell the outside world
21:56of the brutal conditions
21:57being endured
21:58by POWs.
22:00One time,
22:02out of the blue,
22:03Denton got
22:03an incredible opportunity.
22:06After nearly
22:06ten months
22:07of captivity,
22:08the guards
22:08informed Denton
22:09that the following day
22:10he is to be interviewed
22:11in front of
22:12a global audience.
22:14Denton is told
22:15that this media appearance
22:16is very important
22:17and he is warned
22:18to be on his best behavior.
22:20It's entirely likely
22:21that if he doesn't comply,
22:23he'll be killed.
22:25How can he tell
22:26the world what's happening
22:27without his captors
22:28finding out?
22:30Denton's solution
22:31is ingenious
22:32and so sensitive
22:33it remains secret
22:34for years to come.
22:36morning comes
22:38and Denton
22:38is taken
22:39out of his cell,
22:40blindfolded
22:41and driven
22:42away from the prison.
22:44He finds himself
22:46in a nicely appointed room
22:47sitting in front
22:48of a Japanese journalist
22:49and crew.
22:51Denton has no idea
22:52how he can subvert
22:53this interview
22:54but then it's action.
22:56The lights go on
22:57and he's temporarily blinded
22:59and he squints
23:00and blinks
23:01to try to avert
23:02the light from his eyes
23:03and then the idea
23:05comes to him.
23:06I don't know
23:07what is happening.
23:10Denton is answering
23:11the questions
23:12in the way
23:14that his captors
23:14want him to.
23:15Adequate food
23:17and adequate clothing.
23:20But his eyes
23:21are telling
23:22a completely different story.
23:25Denton's blinking
23:26is actually spelling out
23:28a message
23:29in Morse code.
23:31The message
23:33spells out
23:34one word
23:36torture.
23:37In plain sight
23:38with the world watching
23:40Denton spells out
23:41torture
23:42in Morse code
23:43again
23:44and again
23:45a single word
23:47that says it all.
23:48The North Vietnamese
23:49don't notice
23:51what Denton's up to
23:51and the broadcast
23:52is actually
23:53transmitted worldwide.
23:55This is big news.
23:57It's the first
23:58indication
23:59that the United States
24:00has
24:01that North Vietnam
24:02is violating
24:04the Geneva Convention.
24:06Denton has no idea
24:08if his message
24:08has been heard.
24:10The U.S. authorities
24:11never make public
24:12his blink code
24:13fearful that it would lead
24:14to more extreme
24:15consequences
24:15like more beatings
24:17or even execution.
24:18He doesn't find out
24:19that his code
24:20was actually received
24:21until 1973
24:23when he's finally released.
24:25A year later
24:26Denton is awarded
24:27the Navy Cross
24:28for his conduct
24:30during captivity.
24:31But the full story
24:33of his ordeal
24:33remains unknown
24:35until 1975
24:37when he publishes
24:38his memoir
24:38When Hell Was In Session.
24:43And now the world
24:44finally discovers
24:45the story of
24:46Denton's courageous
24:47blinking code.
24:51What if I told you
24:53that a key part
24:53of beating the Nazis
24:54unbreakable
24:55Enigma code
24:56was a bunch of
24:57Ohio factory workers
24:59who made cash registers?
25:00It's a wartime secret
25:02so sensitive
25:03that it remains
25:04under wraps
25:05for more than 50 years.
25:11In the early 1940s
25:12it's open season
25:14in the North Atlantic
25:14for Nazi submarine
25:15wolf packs.
25:16The German Navy
25:17is sinking
25:18vast numbers
25:19of allied ships.
25:21From the summer
25:22of 1940
25:22into the spring
25:23of 1941
25:24hundreds of allied ships
25:26are sent
25:27to the bottom
25:27of the Atlantic
25:28by German U-boats.
25:30It's what the U-boat crews
25:31gloatingly call
25:33the happy time.
25:35The secret weapon
25:36behind all this
25:37is the Enigma device.
25:40A code machine
25:41the Nazis used
25:42to encrypt orders
25:43to their submarine fleet.
25:44If the allies
25:45are to escape
25:46the U-boat attacks
25:47this code needs breaking.
25:50But that's no easy task.
25:52The Enigma machine
25:53is a typewriter-like device
25:55that's used to encrypt messages
25:58and then unencrypt them
26:00so they can be read normally.
26:02For the process to work
26:03both the sending
26:04and receiving Enigma machines
26:06have three rotors
26:07that have to be set
26:08to the same configurations.
26:10And those are determined
26:11by using the key
26:12from a code book.
26:14Unless you have
26:15a code book
26:16and the setting sheets
26:17it is impossible
26:19to solve this
26:21by simple trial and error.
26:23Then in 1941
26:24the British have
26:26a major stroke of luck.
26:27Their Navy captures
26:28an enemy U-boat
26:30with an intact Enigma machine
26:32plus code books.
26:34Now they're able
26:35to use their own
26:36decryption device
26:37which they call
26:39the bomb.
26:40Overnight
26:41they can now listen
26:42to encrypted
26:43German communications.
26:45U-boat patrols
26:45are tracked.
26:46Thousands of lives
26:47are saved.
26:48But nine months later
26:50the German Navy
26:52decides to ramp up
26:53their security.
26:54In February of 1942
26:56the Germans
26:57quietly roll out
26:58a new version
26:59of the Enigma machine
27:00that has now
27:02a new fourth rotor.
27:03Adding that single
27:05extra dial
27:05results in the number
27:07of extra settings
27:08possible for encrypting
27:09the codes
27:09increasing exponentially.
27:11There are now
27:1292 septillion
27:14different ways
27:15to set up
27:16a German four-rotor.
27:18naval Enigma machine.
27:20It's a complete disaster
27:21for the Allies.
27:22They are completely
27:24locked out
27:24of German naval
27:26encrypted communications.
27:28U-boats
27:29basically go on
27:30the rampage again.
27:33The British need
27:34a much faster
27:35version of the bomb.
27:37And that means
27:38not having to design
27:39a mechanical
27:40decryption device
27:41but an electronic one.
27:43The British are struggling
27:44to produce these machines
27:45so they turn
27:47to the United States
27:47and they ask
27:48for assistance.
27:49Washington starts
27:51looking for someone
27:52to build this new
27:53improved bomb.
27:54They need a visionary
27:56engineer with a team
27:57of electronics experts
27:59in a vast
28:00manufacturing space.
28:02They find all three
28:04in Dayton, Ohio
28:05at the National
28:06Cash Register Company
28:07or NCR.
28:10The NCR is a world leader
28:12in electronics
28:13and they just invented
28:14the world's first
28:15electronic accounting
28:16machine that runs
28:17at a million pulses
28:19per second.
28:20A megahertz.
28:22NCR has an enormous
28:24production facility
28:25in Dayton.
28:26They're led by
28:27Joseph Desch,
28:28an engineer
28:29who has an intrinsic
28:31grasp of the potential
28:33of electronics.
28:35Desch designs a way
28:36of scaling up
28:37the British bomb
28:38utilizing the might
28:39of American engineering.
28:41The biggest issue
28:42is it comes
28:43with an incredible
28:44price tag
28:45around $4 million
28:47each.
28:48It also weighs
28:49over two and a half
28:50tons
28:50so needs to be built
28:52in a special room
28:54of the NCR
28:55with one of the first
28:56steel reinforced
28:57concrete floors
28:58in the United States.
29:00The Navy signs off
29:02on the costs
29:03and Desch's team
29:04gets building.
29:05The process is relentless
29:06with the team
29:07working seven days a week.
29:10Finally,
29:11on May 28, 1943,
29:13after 11 long months,
29:15Desch's supersized bomb
29:17gets its first test.
29:20Inside the NCR,
29:22Desch switches on
29:23the machine
29:24and he feeds it
29:26an Enigma M4 message.
29:28The machine starts up.
29:30It begins to whine.
29:33Then the machine stops.
29:34It seems like
29:35an electrical short circuit
29:37and the teams
29:38are deflated.
29:38But suddenly,
29:39it springs back to life.
29:41And incredibly,
29:42the machine scores a hit.
29:44It prints out
29:45the precise key
29:47used to encipher
29:48the message.
29:49They then use that key
29:51to set the rotors
29:52on their own
29:53Enigma machine.
29:54They can then
29:55decipher the code
29:56and reveal
29:58the original message.
30:00Desch has done it.
30:02He sends the results
30:03direct to the code breakers
30:04in Washington.
30:06Soon,
30:07Desch's machines
30:08are being put to work
30:09decrypting German messages.
30:12The Americans
30:12and the British
30:13are actually decrypting
30:14Enigma messages
30:15faster than the German
30:17recipients are.
30:18after NCR
30:20and its decryption machines
30:21start going into action,
30:23the tide turns
30:24against the German
30:25UO commanders.
30:26It stops being a happy time
30:28and it starts becoming
30:29a Nazi hunting time.
30:33For over 50 years,
30:35the Dayton code breakers'
30:36contribution
30:36to breaking Enigma
30:38remains classified.
30:40Desch and the women
30:41who made the U.S. bomb
30:42take their secrets
30:44to the grave.
30:47Only in 1995,
30:50after a campaign
30:51by Desch's daughter,
30:52is their role
30:53finally acknowledged.
30:58It's 1968.
30:59Someone is selling
31:00the U.S. Navy's
31:01top secrets
31:02to the Soviets.
31:03And the Navy brass
31:04have no idea
31:05it's even happening.
31:06When the truth
31:07is finally revealed
31:08after two decades,
31:09it's not by the FBI
31:11or the CIA.
31:12It's by a disgruntled spouse.
31:20Senior U.S. Naval officials
31:22are a bit troubled.
31:23Time and again,
31:25their opponents
31:25seem to gain
31:26the upper hand on them
31:28and anticipate their moves
31:29with almost clairvoyant skill.
31:32From tracking their subs
31:34in the Atlantic
31:35to eventually dodging
31:36bombing raids in Vietnam,
31:38they sense that
31:39something is up.
31:42The U.S. has no idea
31:44how this is happening.
31:45It's as if the USSR
31:47has cracked U.S. naval codes.
31:49To U.S. commanders,
31:51that's a ludicrous suggestion.
31:53At this time,
31:55the U.S. Navy uses
31:56one of the world's
31:57most advanced coding machines,
31:59known as the KW-7.
32:00It is one of the first
32:02fully electronic coding machines,
32:04faster and more secure
32:06than ever before.
32:07In order to break this code,
32:09the enemy would have
32:10to get their hands
32:10on a KW-7 machine
32:12and have access
32:14to the key cards
32:15that are necessary
32:15to operate it.
32:16Those key cards, however,
32:18are changed out regularly,
32:20usually about once a month.
32:21And that means that
32:22even if the Soviets
32:23get their hands on a machine,
32:25well, they still have to have
32:26the latest key card
32:27in order to figure out
32:28what a coding message says.
32:30The Soviets have got their hands
32:32on some KW-7s
32:34after a U.S. ship
32:35was captured in North Korea.
32:36But because the captured machines
32:38didn't have key cards with them,
32:40the U.S. Navy believed
32:41that their code was still secure.
32:43A series of security breaches follow.
32:45But the Navy is sure
32:47that this is just
32:47a run of bad luck.
32:50It's not just bad luck.
32:51It's something far worse.
32:53Their top secret code
32:55is no longer secret.
32:56The truth is first discovered
32:58not by a cryptography specialist,
33:00but by a housewife in Virginia.
33:03Barbara Walker
33:04is the wife of John Walker,
33:06a radio man in the U.S. Navy.
33:08From the outside,
33:09they have a happy life
33:10with four kids.
33:11They'd had money troubles before,
33:13but now they live
33:14a very comfortable life,
33:15a fact she puts down
33:17to John's rising career.
33:19One day,
33:20Barbara Walker
33:21comes across something strange.
33:23Tucked away in a closet
33:24is a grocery bag
33:26stuffed with classified Navy documents,
33:29and they've been
33:30hidden away there by John.
33:32When confronted,
33:34Walker comes clean.
33:35He's been stealing
33:36top-secret information
33:38and passing it to the Soviets
33:39in exchange
33:40for millions of dollars.
33:42Among John Walker's responsibilities
33:44is taking care
33:45of these KW-7 cards.
33:47It's his duty
33:48and responsibility
33:49to destroy the old ones
33:51and to safeguard the new ones.
33:52But instead of doing that,
33:54he's sending them
33:55to the Soviets.
33:57Once they have the key cards,
33:59the Soviets can decode
34:00the American messages
34:01that they recorded
34:02over the previous month.
34:04The Soviets then tunnel their way
34:06into at least
34:07a million encrypted naval messages.
34:10It's the most damaging
34:11code breach in U.S. history.
34:13And the Americans
34:14don't even know
34:15it's happening.
34:16For over 10 years,
34:18John is able
34:19to intimidate Barbara
34:20into keeping his secret.
34:22Barbara is terrified
34:23of her husband's temper,
34:25and she fears
34:26that if she goes
34:27to the authorities,
34:27she might lose her kids.
34:29Over the years,
34:31John secretly drags
34:32more family members
34:33into his twisted spy world,
34:35including one
34:36of their adult sons.
34:38Then, in 1984,
34:40Barbara finally breaks
34:41John's hold over her.
34:44Barbara learns that
34:45John recently attempted
34:46to pull their daughter in.
34:48Even though the daughter refused,
34:51she picks up the phone
34:53and calls the FBI.
34:55She tells them
34:56about the drops,
34:57what he's doing,
34:58how this all works.
34:59As they listen,
35:01they see
35:02the KGB patterns
35:03at play.
35:05Furthermore,
35:05as they investigate Walker,
35:07it becomes clear
35:08that he has
35:08a little more cash
35:09than one should
35:10for his station,
35:11and he's taking
35:12some rather odd trips
35:13at odd times.
35:15But they need more
35:17than just circumstantial evidence,
35:18so they attempt
35:19to catch John
35:20in the act.
35:22In May 1985,
35:25the FBI trails Walker
35:26to a wooded area
35:27near Washington, D.C.,
35:29and watches him
35:30hide a package
35:31before leaving,
35:32a classic dead drop.
35:33Agents move in
35:35and retrieve the documents.
35:36It's a gold mine.
35:38Inside,
35:39they find 129 pages
35:41of classified material.
35:43John is arrested
35:44at his hotel room
35:45just a few hours later.
35:48Faced with the prospect
35:50of life in prison,
35:51Walker does the only thing
35:53he can.
35:53He makes a deal.
35:55In exchange
35:56for his full confession,
35:58he negotiates
35:59a more lenient sentence
36:00for his son,
36:01Michael.
36:02John Walker
36:03is sentenced
36:04to life in prison.
36:07For the Russians,
36:08this has been
36:08a brilliantly simple strategy.
36:10Their code breakers
36:11haven't had to crack anything.
36:12All they had to do
36:13is crack open
36:14the checkbook.
36:15The story explodes
36:17across the media,
36:18along with Walker's
36:19stinging comment
36:20that Kmart
36:21has better security
36:23than the Navy.
36:25When the story
36:26of this domestic spy ring
36:27goes public,
36:28it reveals huge flaws
36:30in U.S. naval security,
36:33leading to the implementation
36:35of new security measures
36:37to ensure this won't happen again.
36:42It's New York in 1919.
36:45A poker prodigy
36:46is lying in bed.
36:48He's about to doze off
36:49when he's struck
36:50by a flash of inspiration,
36:52one that will help him
36:53crack a notoriously
36:54difficult Japanese code.
36:59In the aftermath
37:00of World War I,
37:01American leaders
37:02have learned
37:03a hard lesson.
37:04Information
37:05is power.
37:06So if you can read
37:07other nations' codes,
37:09you can know
37:10what your enemies
37:11and even your friends
37:13are really thinking.
37:15Even in peacetime,
37:16Washington doesn't want
37:17to rely on what
37:18other governments
37:19choose to tell them.
37:21So they decide
37:22to start cracking
37:23other countries' codes.
37:25The U.S. turns
37:26to an unlikely establishment
37:28that publishes puzzle books
37:30from a nondescript brownstone
37:31in New York City.
37:33It's the secret headquarters
37:34of the U.S.'s
37:35most advanced
37:36code-breaking operation
37:37called the Cipher Bureau,
37:40an outfit so secret
37:41that it doesn't
37:42even officially exist,
37:43essentially a U.S. government
37:45black op.
37:48The young man
37:49who runs this
37:49is Herbert Yardley,
37:50a prodigy
37:51with a flair
37:52for numbers and puzzles.
37:53In fact,
37:54he funded his education
37:55through poker winnings.
37:58Working for the State Department,
38:00he secretly cracked
38:01a coded message
38:02meant only for the president
38:03in just two hours.
38:06From there,
38:07Yardley's skills
38:07land him his own gig,
38:09running the secret
38:10code-breaking team
38:11for the U.S. government
38:12under its cover
38:13as a puzzle publisher.
38:17Yardley and his cipher bureau
38:19break all kinds of codes
38:21for the U.S. government.
38:22Around 20 countries
38:24have their messages
38:25cracked by Yardley's outfit.
38:28The cipher bureau's
38:30most fiendish challenge
38:31is cracking
38:32Japanese coded telegrams.
38:34These are concerned
38:36with Japanese
38:37and U.S. negotiations
38:39over a naval arms
38:40limitation treaty.
38:43Yardley's cipher bureau
38:45is given a collection
38:46of diplomatic cables
38:47from Japan to decode.
38:48And this is
38:49a monumental challenge
38:50because even before
38:51you consider
38:52any encryption,
38:53Japanese is
38:55incredibly complicated.
38:57Instead of
38:57a 26-letter alphabet
38:59like we have in English,
39:00they have
39:00the kana,
39:02which is a collection
39:02of every possible
39:04syllable sound,
39:05and there are 73 of those.
39:08Despite the scale
39:10of the challenge,
39:11Yardley vows
39:11that if he doesn't
39:12break the code
39:13within a year,
39:14he will resign.
39:16But after half a year,
39:17Yardley still can't
39:18discern any real patterns.
39:20He's really starting
39:21to wish he hadn't been
39:22so hasty
39:23offering to resign.
39:25Yardley dedicates
39:26so much of his time
39:27to breaking the codes
39:28that he even starts
39:29dreaming about them.
39:31And one night,
39:32inspiration strikes.
39:34Suddenly,
39:35he's able to pick out
39:36the Japanese word
39:37for Ireland
39:38in the telegrams.
39:40Irish independence
39:41is in the news right now,
39:42and the Japanese
39:43are discussing it
39:44in their diplomatic telegrams.
39:45Now,
39:46it's like he has
39:47the corner
39:47of a jigsaw puzzle,
39:48and he builds out
39:49from this,
39:50cracking one syllable
39:51and then another.
39:52And finally,
39:53after six months,
39:55Yardley and his team
39:56have the Japanese code
39:57completely defeated.
40:00Yardley's work
40:01helped secure
40:01a historic peace deal
40:03on U.S. terms,
40:04and Yardley is rewarded
40:06with a distinguished
40:07service medal.
40:08But this becomes
40:09the high point
40:10of his code-breaking career.
40:13By 1929,
40:14after a series
40:15of funding cuts,
40:16Yardley's cipher bureau
40:17is closed for good.
40:18But because it didn't
40:19officially exist,
40:21he's not able to draw
40:22a civil service pension,
40:23so in the end,
40:24he ends up broke.
40:26Feeling betrayed,
40:28Yardley decides
40:28to publish a tell-all book
40:30called
40:30The American Black Chamber.
40:32This effectively
40:33makes him
40:33the Edward Snowden
40:34of his time,
40:34but it also makes
40:35him a small fortune.
40:37He rakes in the equivalent
40:38of half a million dollars
40:39in today's currency.
40:41The U.S. government
40:42is outraged
40:43by Yardley
40:44having gone
40:44from their secret
40:45puzzle nerd
40:46to a rogue operator.
40:48Yardley's book
40:49is an embarrassment
40:51to the U.S. government.
40:54Because of it,
40:55some 19 nations
40:56are alerted
40:57that their codes
40:58have been broken
40:59by the United States.
41:01They can't throw him
41:02in jail
41:03because only
41:04limited laws exist
41:06on spilling state secrets.
41:08In March of 1933,
41:10Congress amends
41:11the Espionage Act
41:12by passing
41:13an Act for the Protection
41:15of Government Records.
41:16This prohibits
41:17the disclosure
41:18of anything sent in code.
41:19These laws,
41:20Yardley inspired,
41:22become informally known
41:23as the Official Secrets Act,
41:25and they still bind
41:26government officials today.
41:31From a prison cell
41:32to battlefields,
41:33secret codes
41:34are a vital way
41:35nations hide information
41:37from their enemies.
41:39But for every locked door,
41:40there is a key.
41:41And for every code,
41:43a genius mind
41:45trying to crack it.
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